Well?

[millring]

Things that think alike don't have to conspire to do amazing things together.

[Marshall]

WOW !

Just saw Inside Politics on CNN. At the end they talked about George Clooney's statement about Biden. Clooney had held a fundraiser for Biden 3 weeks ago. And commentating were David Axelrod and Jon Favreau, who was an Obama speech writer. Jon was at the Fundraiser as well. And they were all concerned about how Joe acted at the fundraiser. Jon's wife told him she was worried about Biden's condition. Jon told her, "Maybe he's tired from all the travel. But we'll know for sure in the debate in 2 weeks if that's Joe's condition. And what we saw in the debate was exactly what we saw and feared at the fundraiser.

I'm paraphrasing a little. But it is dead-nuts on with what Clooney, Axelrod, and Favreau said. Clooney said the Joe Biden he saw at the fundraiser was not the same Biden from 2010. Or even from 2020.

“I love Joe Biden,” Clooney wrote in a New York Times opinion piece. “As a senator. As a vice president and as president. I consider him a friend, and I believe in him.”

But, Clooney added, the Biden he saw during the June 15 fundraiser, which also included former President Barack Obama, “was not the Joe “big F-ing deal” Biden of 2010. He wasn’t even the Joe Biden of 2020.”

“He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate,” Clooney added, referencing Biden’s faltering and disastrous performance at the June 27 presidential debate on CNN.

[Cornflake]

I read Clooney's piece.

Prominent Democrats are in a tough spot. They don't want to point out shortcomings in the guy who may be the nominee. But they don't want a nominee who will lose. They're not all resolving this tension in the same way.

[epaul]

Jul 10, 2024 4:17:52 GMT -5 millring said:

Things that think alike don't have to conspire to do amazing things together.

That's interesting. And it does explain a few things. For instance, no one told me I had to vote twice, but when I went to vote, I felt this tingling, and something in that tingle told me I either had to find a way to vote again or else fly south for the winter. I wasn't sure which one it was, might have been both, but filling out those extra ballets for Joe definitely fed the tingle. So did backing over the neighbor's Trump sign.

[epaul]

Oh, after a Duck Band practice, Dave told me he had felt the same tingle, and the tingle prompted him to vote twice more. And as we were talking, we heard this ruckus, and when we went out to see what was up, we saw Todd jumping up and down and flapping his arms for all he was worth. We left quietly without saying anything.

[Marshall]

Jul 10, 2024 13:01:11 GMT -5 Cornflake said:

I read Clooney's piece.

Prominent Democrats are in a tough spot. They don't want to point out shortcomings in the guy who may be the nominee. But they don't want a nominee who will lose. They're not all resolving this tension in the same way.

It's coming to a head. And can't be ignored.

[Cornflake]

"It's coming to a head. And can't be ignored." I hope it isn't ignored. I wish Biden well but I always wanted a different nominee this year and lately that desire has ratcheted up.

[majorminor]

Jul 10, 2024 13:01:11 GMT -5 Cornflake said:

They don't want to point out shortcomings in the guy who may be the nominee. But they don't want a nominee who will lose.

Neither of these are are issue #1. We want someone who can respond to a crisis by rolling out of bed at 2 in the morning sharp as a tack don't we? At what point do we all start getting pissed about this? Who's running the show?

[howard lee]

"We want someone who can respond to a crisis by rolling out of bed at 2 in the morning sharp as a tack don't we?"

Yes we do. So? Amend the Constitution. Set term and age limits for POTUS, as well as term and age  limits for SCOTUS. Just as ageism is rampant in the corporate world, where it has affected me and other professionals I know, it should be rampant in our government, too. (I also think it would be a great idea to set minimum IQ requirements for Congress-peeps.)

[aquaduct]

Jul 10, 2024 13:57:45 GMT -5 majorminor said:

We want someone who can respond to a crisis by rolling out of bed at 2 in the morning sharp as a tack don't we? At what point do we all start getting pissed about this?

Apparently at least four years and counting too late.

[Marshall]

Jul 10, 2024 13:57:45 GMT -5 majorminor said:

Jul 10, 2024 13:01:11 GMT -5 Cornflake said:

They don't want to point out shortcomings in the guy who may be the nominee. But they don't want a nominee who will lose.

Neither of these are are issue #1. We want someone who can respond to a crisis by rolling out of bed at 2 in the morning sharp as a tack don't we? At what point do we all start getting pissed about this? Who's running the show?

[dradtke]

Jul 10, 2024 13:19:24 GMT -5 epaul said:

Oh, after a Duck Band practice, Dave told me he had felt the same tingle, and the tingle prompted him to vote twice more. And as we were talking, we heard this ruckus, and when we went out to see what was up, we saw Todd jumping up and down and flapping his arms for all he was worth. We left quietly without saying anything.

And those were just my North Dakota votes.

[Cornflake]

"At what point do we all start getting pissed about this?"

Hey, don't start a ruction.

[majorminor]

Jul 10, 2024 20:05:51 GMT -5 Cornflake said:

a ruction.

There are pills for that!

[millring]

Jul 10, 2024 13:05:22 GMT -5 epaul said:

Jul 10, 2024 4:17:52 GMT -5 millring said:

Things that think alike don't have to conspire to do amazing things together.

That's interesting. And it does explain a few things. For instance, no one told me I had to vote twice, but when I went to vote, I felt this tingling, and something in that tingle told me I either had to find a way to vote again or else fly south for the winter. I wasn't sure which one it was, might have been both, but filling out those extra ballets for Joe definitely fed the tingle. So did backing over the neighbor's Trump sign.

We all just do what we have to do.

[millring]

Jul 10, 2024 13:57:45 GMT -5 majorminor said:

Jul 10, 2024 13:01:11 GMT -5 Cornflake said:

They don't want to point out shortcomings in the guy who may be the nominee. But they don't want a nominee who will lose.

Neither of these are are issue #1. We want someone who can respond to a crisis by rolling out of bed at 2 in the morning sharp as a tack don't we? At what point do we all start getting pissed about this? Who's running the show?

Did we find out in an equally graphic way that Reagan's mental acuity was failing during his second term? Or did most of that information come out after the fact? I remember a lot of speculation about it during his second term, but I don't recall it being on public display. Of course, Reagan's era was pre-internet/social media. I'm guessing that if Biden was Reagan we wouldn't be dithering about whether he should remain the candidate. Congress would be removing him from office. We'll see if that's how it plays out for Biden.

Marshall hinted at it earlier: The reality is that in today's administrative State, the president is more figurehead than decision maker. That might bother our sensibilities -- believing as we have been taught, that we live in a democracy. But it should lend a certain comfort that we have presidents and not kings, and as such, our hope isn't in a man, but in a philosophy of governing.

But, again, one of the main issues in this discussion is that we aren't guessing -- we know that we were being deceived. And yet, the deceivers will face no consequences. They'll go on deceiving with impunity.

[millring]

I am seeing from a few sources that one good reason Biden isn't giving up now -- especially before the convention -- is that until he is actually named the candidate, hundreds of millions of campaign dollars can go to nobody BUT him.

[Marshall]

Biden isn’t giving up now because he isn’t giving up yet.

But that will likely change.

[Cornflake]

"But, again, one of the main issues in this discussion is that we aren't guessing -- we know that we were being deceived. And yet, the deceivers will face no consequences. They'll go on deceiving with impunity."

I don't think that. A lot of us have been through the mental decline of an aging loved one. It's a gray thing. There can be a long period where you know the person has lost some acuity but the person is still mostly okay. Familiarity and affection can make us slow to see how far the decline has gone.

No doubt Biden's aides wanted us to see his good days and not his bad ones. The same was true with Reagan and Woodrow Wilson. In their place I would almost certainly have done the same thing. My brother and I were too slow to put my mother in an Alzheimer's unit because we saw what we wanted to see.

You and I will probably disagree about this but in the debate, I thought the substance of what Biden said was mostly pretty good. I'd have given him a significantly higher grade than Trump on substance. If that 2:00 AM call comes, I'd still prefer to have Biden take it.

[epaul]

Jul 10, 2024 4:17:52 GMT -5 millring said:

Things that think alike don't have to conspire to do amazing things together.

All you are saying is that Democrats cheat at elections and Republicans don't. Same exact thing Bruce says, except Bruce is more honest about it. Bruce just says Democrats cheat, Republicans don’t. No birds involved.

You say there was no conspiracy to rig or fix the election, simply that enough Democrats were just collectively moved by some invisible hand or spooky wind to individually twist, tilt, and cheat the election Biden's way.

And then you slyly say that this move to subvert the election is perfectly understandable because if these misguided people actually believe Democracy is at stake, which they do, then of course they will feel a moral obligation to twist, tilt, subvert and cheat the results however they can... and by thousands upon thousands of small cuts bleed an election of its integrity and justness..

Huh? What do you know?

But… wait…

Apparently, by your reasoning, this mysterious wind only blows in one direction.

Apparently, by your reasoning, there weren’t Trump supporters who believed only Trump could save our Democracy and protect our Freedom.

And apparently, again by your reasoning, unlike those "only Biden can save Democracy" Biden supporters, these “only Trump can save the country” Trump supporters experienced no such misplaced moral calling to twist, tilt, subvert, and subvert the election Trump’s way in order to save the country.

Only Democrats are collectively moved to cheat by secret calls in the wind. Republicans aren’t.


No need for birds. Just say what Bruce says, Democrats cheat, Republicans don’t.